The Boss Wants to Die - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The boss wants to die.
Episode 60
[The Fallen Sage.
Ah, so it has happened again.
Mages who pursue diverse knowledge and formidable power are passionate souls—so much so that rumors swirl of them moving in madness.
Perhaps for this reason, they tend to succumb more easily to the temptations of darkness.
Here, yet another mage has forsaken the path of wisdom and fallen under the spell of corrupted power.
Cause: became a Minion of the Demon God.]
No matter how many times I read it, the passage left a bitter taste.
‘Why did I even create this thing?’
I suddenly grasped what I had done.
With eyes as vacant as an abandoned corpse, I stared at Aerial, and his brow furrowed.
“…Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”
“Haaaaaah…”
To drag him—already looking wretched—into further hell itself.
I’m sorry, Aerial.
Because I happen to be a wicked god, I’ve led you down the wrong path.
Though you did ask for it.
Still, you’d have been better off with almost anyone but a Demon God.
I couldn’t shake the weight of guilt.
“Since it’s unpleasant, do spare me those eyes.”
I lifted my eyebrows sharply.
Getting what you wanted, and already talking back?
At my stare, Aerial let out a small cough.
As befitted a mage attuned to mana, he quickly noticed the changes in his own body and shifted the conversation.
“You said I could use the Demon God’s Power in a ‘minimal’ way, but it seems my options expand with higher Levels?”
“Higher Level means better leverage.”
I answered, watching what I’d wrought with half-resigned acceptance.
“But you’ll feel the limits of that power all the more acutely.”
“Hmm. I see…”
“Why? Not enough?”
“It’s adequate for now.”
For now.
‘He wants more power, it seems.’
Why does he crave strength so?
While I pondered this and waited for him to adapt to his new station, a new hologram flickered into existence.
[The Party Point Route has been unlocked!
You can now develop your Minion Aerial Atlantis to suit your tastes.]
Ding!
[Update News has arrived.]
‘An update?’
Since being trapped in the Demon God’s body, I hadn’t glimpsed a single update.
I pulled my excitedly pounding chest close and checked the contents.
[The Love Captive Route has been newly improved!]
‘Of course.’
I exhaled a disappointed sigh and read the rest.
[From today onward, if you invest points in the Love Captive Route, you can unlock new features!
— Existing feature: Complete Favorability Quests regardless of your Minion’s actual Affection Points.
— New feature: Your Minion will be more inclined to obey the Demon God’s requests.]
Oh, interesting.
‘Make them more obedient, in other words?’
How fickle the human heart truly is.
I’d felt guilt mere moments ago, yet my lips were already twitching upward.
I forced myself not to grow too wicked as I read onward.
[Don’t want to raise your Minion’s rank, but wish to train them to be obedient?
Then invest points in the Love Captive Route!
Complete Favorability Quests and have your Minion eagerly grant your requests!
Isn’t that having your cake and eating it too?]
‘That was a genuinely useful update.’
I was reviewing Aerial’s newly unlocked route when I discovered information I hadn’t anticipated.
“Why the strange expression?”
Aerial asked with a suspicious look.
I examined Aerial carefully as he probed my intentions without suspicion.
Which made it all the more absurd.
“You’re interesting, you know that?”
“I beg your pardon?”
His Favorability was at -100.
-100, of all things.
Easy to say, harder to grasp.
To explain what that number meant was simple enough.
A hatred so deep you’d kill the other person without hesitation.
That’s what -100 Favorability was.
Michael had reached that threshold once, but Aerial was different.
He wasn’t a priest—he was a Demon God worshipper.
And above all, he had no qualms whatsoever about coveting dark power.
Right now he seemed tense enough, yet he conversed with me civilly enough.
Which meant he was harboring murderous impulses beneath that composed surface.
‘How brazen.’
Why did he despise me this deeply?
If it were Michael, I’d understand—but Aerial had no backstory with me whatsoever.
Hadn’t we only just met today?
‘Or perhaps… he simply hates the world itself?’
I tilted my head thoughtfully.
“Fascinates me even more now.”
Aerial buttoned up the jacket he’d left undone as he spoke.
“I can’t fathom what aspect of me has captured your curiosity.”
“Your Level is high.”
I offered a reason that wasn’t entirely false.
“And what of it?”
Aerial responded with a cynical edge.
“You’re stronger than me anyway.”
“No matter how strong you are, you can’t kill yourself.”
His fox-like eyes rolled across my face, puzzled.
I laid it bare.
“I’m searching for a Player who can kill me.”
“That’s a reason I hadn’t considered. Then why make me your Minion?”
……
“Wouldn’t it be better to ask for death directly and pay for the service?”
Ah, this brat.
I let out a sigh.
“Do you think you could kill me?”
Aerial’s lips parted, then closed again.
“See? You can’t. You’re far too weak.”
……
“Level 301 is pathetic. To reach the Grand Hall of Demon Palace, you’d need at least Level 400, and you’d need to be around Level 500 to match me in a true contest of strength.”
I shrugged.
“That’s my reason. I collar promising ones as Minions and keep them marked. I’m in circumstances that make meeting high-Level Players difficult.”
High-Level Players in the 400–500 range were rare to begin with.
The reason most Players who found their way to the Grand Hall of Demon Palace came alone rather than in parties was obvious.
They couldn’t find anyone as strong as themselves, so they came solo.
‘I can’t simply wait until Aktr reaches that Level.’
You could only access high-Level Villages after raising your own Level, and only then could you meet high-Level users.
But no one knew how many years that would take.
To shorten the timeline, I had to exploit every means at my disposal.
Claiming high-Level Players I met by chance as Minions before anyone else could.
“Since we’re on the subject—when your Level gets high enough, you will kill me, won’t you?”
“No.”
Aerial answered quickly and flatly.
“Why?”
“Why waste such precious power?”
Aerial spoke plainly, nothing more.
His face showed no curiosity whatsoever about why I wanted to die.
“I’d rather not slaughter the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
“That’s inconvenient.”
I let my disappointment show on my face.
‘If I could make him obey my commands without question, that would be perfect.’
A higher rank among my followers might unlock restrictions like that.
Maybe I should accumulate points and try to raise his rank.
‘Someday I’ll find out.’
I decided to speak honestly.
“That’s the problem. My only purpose is death, nothing else.”
“Death is your purpose?”
“I don’t need anything but that. I want death. That’s the only thing I desire.”
Aerial had no interest in other people.
Which made things easier, actually.
There was no reason to hide anything.
……
……
We stood studying each other for a long moment.
Two pairs of crimson eyes gazed at each other, mirror-perfect and identical.
Aerial’s brow narrowed slightly, as if he’d discovered something in me that resembled himself.
“You’re a bit like me, aren’t you?”
“We’re both beautiful, at least.”
Aerial laughed.
“Red is certainly beautiful, isn’t it?”
He grasped a strand of his hair and let it slip through his fingers as he spoke.
The way the light caught it as it fell, it gleamed with colors that shifted moment to moment.
‘Dyed?’
The red seemed almost artificial now that I looked closely.
[Aerial’s Affection Points have increased by 1.]
“I never thought the Demon God and I would see eye to eye. Should I be pleased?”
“Compatibility is always good when two people share similar temperaments.”
“If you don’t need me because I won’t kill you, are you planning to discard me?”
“I haven’t decided.”
I gave a flat, indifferent answer, letting my disappointment show plainly.
“It would be difficult to cancel a follower bond.”
Aerial’s voice turned urgent as he pleaded.
“Is there anything else you want? I’m prepared to grant almost anything—except killing you.”
‘How should I respond?’
The function to expel an accepted follower didn’t exist yet.
But there was no reason to tell him that.
“Fine. I won’t discard you. But there’s a condition.”
“What is it?”
“With your own hands, you’ll destroy the establishments in this village.”
Aerial’s eyes widened.
“I’m telling you to clear the Worshippers’ Red Light District Dungeon in my stead.”
I spoke with clear authority.
“That’s why I came to this village in the first place.”
***
Aerial was convenient.
More than convenient—he was genuinely convenient.
He never questioned anything.
All I had to do was give orders.
This was exactly what I’d wanted.
“It’s done.”
I posted a party recruitment notice on the village bulletin board.
It was possible that some random person might try to join, but I had something to rely on.
‘The rumor is that high-level Players interfere with the Worshippers’ Red Light District Dungeon. I’ve been managing it, so the story has spread.’
Aerial’s explanation had been useful.
True enough—no one sent a message wanting to join the party.
Dark rumors swirled around the Worshippers’ Red Light District Dungeon, spreading like wildfire.
Only Aerial answered the party recruitment notice.
[Aerial Atlantis has requested to form a party with you. Do you accept?]
Aktr checked the applicant’s name.
Aerial Atlantis.
Aktr’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the hologram.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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